Who Am I?

I’m someone very important in your life. I’m someone you want to impress. And it’s likely that you have never even met me. But I assure you, there are few people more important to you than me.

I am your Next Potential Customer. I’m the next guy who needs what you’re selling. Doesn’t matter what it is -- a car, a lawnmower, insurance, a hat, a meal… What does matter is that I have a great big wad of cash, and I’m ready to buy now! Matter of fact, as we speak, I’m thinking about where to go to buy what I need. Maybe I know the place to find it. Maybe I’ll shop around. And maybe, eventually, I’ll get around to visiting your business…

Unless I find what I need before I think of your business. But you do not want that.

I am your Next Potential Customer. Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Make me think of you first when I need what you offer.

Advertising is the only way, save for blind luck, for the buying public to learn what you have to offer them. The trick is to make your ads stand out, so that I, your Next Potential Customer, think of you when I need what you sell. A hundred places do what you do. And if you listen to their ads, you’ll notice they all have “friendly customer service,” they’re all “conveniently located” somewhere, and they all have “the best selection.” I’ve heard those words so often they don’t mean anything anymore. So how do I, your Next Potential Customer, tell you apart from your competitors?

Your ad copy must be fresh. Use powerful, effective words that touch my mind and my heart. You must, MUST speak to me about me. Not about you. I don’t care that you’ve been in business since 1855, or that you have qualified technicians, or that you won the Bunsen Prize three years running. I care about my needs. When you’re ready to talk to me about how you can help fulfill them, I’ll be ready to listen.

So, advertise. Your business is unique; tell me why, and tell me often. I am your Next Potential Customer. Persuade me. Seduce me. Use language that makes me remember you. But make it about me, and I’ll be right there, money in hand, I promise.

*Thanks to Michael Coleman, radio ad-man extraordinaire, with whom I had a recent conversation which inspired this post